Last week after a dinner out on the town, I dropped into my local Verizon shop with a friend to check out the new Verizon Incredible. I'm itching to get an Android phone. So I check it, get the pricing, and learn about the buy-one-get-one-free deal on the Motorola Droid, which is also a pretty bad-ass phone. It's getting late and I didn't want to rush into anything, so I decided to wait a week before doing anything.

So this week at work, all I can think about is the Droid (and the buxom auditor I keep running into in the break room). I work out all the permutations on the pricing, double check my addition, and come to a resolution. Because Saturday (yesterday) I have to work a 6th day for a project rollout, I decide to reward myself by picking up the Incredible as soon as I get of work. So we finish our rollout and I Fred-Flinstone down to my nearest Verizon shop, take a number, and start playing with the Incredible they have on display.

Finally, I get the Sales Rep. He has some survey he wants to give me about my phone usage, whether I'm going to use it primarily for email or internet. I politely cut him short and tell him I've done my research and know what I want. I can see this puts him a bit on edge.

First he tells me that I can't buy the Droid and then get the free Incredible to use as a backup (or sell on the black market, for all that it's his business). The second-phone-free offer only applies when you sign on for a second two-year monthly contract.

Then he tells me they're all out of the Incredible. No Verizon stores have the Incredible in stock. Son-of-a-fucking bitch. You're kidding me. He suggests I put it on order. Yeah, fuck that. I suggest maybe I'll take another look at the iPhone, thank him for his time, and get the hell out of there.

Doing my due diligence, I call another Verizon store, the one I had visited the week before, where the Sales rep I talked to — the one who was so enthusiastic about the Incredible hadn't given the least indication that I couldn't have walked out with one that very night — worked. Ask the droid who answered the phone about the Incredible. He confirmed: not a phone left in the state. Hasn't been one available since the day it was released.

Holy shit. What a pile of fail. So I guess I'm fucked. Anyway, I figure I'll just phone customer service Monday and place the order there. And while I'm at it, knock my phone plan down a level, something I've been meaning to do for a couple months now anyway.